Templates exist because WhatsApp does not let businesses send free-form messages to people who have not written recently. A business can reply freely for 24 hours after a customer message; at any other time, it has to use an approved template, and the recipient must have opted in.
A template has a fixed structure with optional variables, such as a first name or an order number, and belongs to one of three categories: marketing (promotions and offers), utility (follow-ups on an order or a request) and authentication (one-time passcodes). Meta assigns the category from the content, and a utility template that contains promotional material is re-categorized as marketing.
The category sets the price: Meta charges each delivered template message at a rate that depends on the category and on the recipient's country code. A WhatsApp Business account can hold a maximum of 250 templates, and each template gets a quality rating (high, medium or low) based on how recipients react.
The WhatsApp Business templates guide gives examples for each category. In Kanal, approved templates are what WhatsApp campaigns and automations send to opted-in Shopify customers.
